Smoked Salmon Omelet with Feta and Beet Relish

This scrumptious little number is a brunch, breakfast, or in my case actually, a dinner recipe, for Sunny Side Up! our IHCC week's theme, taken from Curtis Stone's cookbook,  Good Food, Good Life.  And it is.  Good  food that is.  Bob is usually only around for breakfast on Sundays, a bit late for this posting, so rather than do it all up just for myself, it was a lovely dinner for two.

Smoking Salmon for Charcutepalooza

Since the latest challenge from the folks at Charcutepalooza was hot smoking meat or fish, and we were blessed to be given a 3 lb. piece of wild red salmon by our hunter/fisherman/pilot friend, the selection of what to smoke this month was pretty obvious.  Not so clear was the" how to" of it all, though  I had the feeling that if sufficient directions were found, and I followed them step by step, then my first attempt at smoking wouldn't be a complete disaster.  And, I was right.  That salmon smoked up beautifully, moist, flavorful and tender.  I cut the piece in half lengthwise, so there would be skin on just one side of each, and so it wouldn't be so thick. Next it went into a salt and sugar brine flavored with toasted, crushed coriander seeds, 5 Spice and yellow miso for 2 hours at room temperature.

We have a Grillware charcoal BBQ, which has a thermometer on the hinged lid, which made things simpler.  Also a hand crank to raise and lower the grill level, which made adding extra chips and coals easier.  I went on the side of less charcoal being better.  You can add heat easier than taking it away, was my thought.  I used apple wood chips, soaked overnight, but they dried out after an hour, and weren't smoking much, so I threw on some fresh green guava wood pieces to continue producing smoke.  I had 2 old metal pans of water under the fish, as advised.  So, the salmon went for 3 hours at very low heat, and got a good dose of smoke along the way.

So many ways to serve this wonderful smoky flavored fish. One of my favorites was Open-faced Smoked Salmon Sandwiches on whole grains bread.

Salmon Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

I have to say that I love, love, love ravioli.  Tempting little pockets, hiding delicious morsels inside them, swathed with a touch of simple brown butter and thyme, or coated in marinara.  So, here I go again.  This incarnation it is smoked salmon, preserved lemon and spring onion inside, with brown butter, thyme and white wine reduction for the finish, just to nicely coat them.

I found some smaller (3x3") won ton/ravioli wraps from the same folks who make the larger ones, NaSoya,   Pictured on my Lemon Feta Ravioli post.  So, less cutting is required. Use your round, 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter.  Or, you could just have slightly larger square or triangle shaped pasta. Yes, one day soon - perhaps next week - I will actually do that thing where you put a heap of flour on your counter, crack an egg into it and make the dough myself.  Until then, I am singing the praises of this little store bought item.  I tell you, by the time I finish with enough ravioli for just the two of us, plus the nice beets with greens and basil salad, then whipping up a sauce, it somehow seems like enough already.  Maybe it's my time of life.

This salad of cooked beets  with their greens, and bits of basil was such a beautiful contrast, accenting the pasta.  Thank you CSA folks.  I used a simple vinaigrette dressing on it.